The first page of David Markson’s copy of Inferno by Dante Alighieri:

     On which Markson placed the inscription:
     “Markson
     NYC ‘81”

—-

     Yes, another post with nothing but the classic inscription.

      And one with the exact inscription as my last post (even with the same date):
     “Markson
     NYC ‘81”

     This time though, the book is Dante’s Inferno.

     Inferno, of course, being the book which got Dante into some trouble with extreme fundamentalist Muslims in our “modern” times…

     Why? Well…
     “Dante situates Mohammed in the ninth chasm of the Malebolge for having sown division in the Church. He is seen slashed open from his chin to his anus and with his innards spilling out.
     In retaliation, Muslim fundamentalists in the early 1990s threatened to blow up Dante’s tomb in Ravenna.
     Seven hundred years after the fact.”
     Markson explained in his novel Reader’s Block. On pg. 68.

     These extremists’ terrorist threats are not the only negative comments made toward Dante in Markson’s Notecard Quartet…

     “A hyena that writes poetry on tombs, Nietzsche called Dante.” (This Is Not A Novel, pg. 16).

     “Most of Homer is trash, determined Walter Savage Landor.
     Who felt the same way about Dante.” (Vanishing Point, pg. 60).

     “Santayana’s annoyance at the perpetual tremblings and tears and fainting fits in Dante.
     This shivering and swooning philosopher—unquote.” (Vanishing Point, pg. 165).

     “Dante will always remain popular because nobody ever reads him.
     Said Voltaire.” (The Last Novel, pg. 83).

     Which all seem to amount to a sentiment expressed by a character in one of Markson’s non-Notecard Quartet novels: Going Down:
     “Dante, fuck you.”
     Found on pg. 259 of that novel.

     But going back to his tetralogy, there were also—unsurprisingly—some positive comments on Dante to be found in the Notecard Quartet as well…

     “No greater man ever walked the earth than he.
     Said Michelangelo of Dante.” (Reader’s Block, pg. 101).

     “Dante tires one quickly; it is like looking at the sun.
     Said Joyce.” (Vanishing Point, pg. 137).

     “The grete poete of Ytaille.
     Chaucer referred to Dante as—in the late fourteenth century.” (The Last Novel, pg. 28).